


Psychedelic Butterfly

by tizarrior



Category: Higurashi no Naku Koro ni | Higurashi When They Cry
Genre: Also probably an inspiration from Saikoroshi, Butterflies, Happy Ending, Hopeful Ending, I just liked it so much, It must've become one of my favorite arcs of all time now rifp, Major Tsumihoroboshi Spoilers, New World, Self-Reflection, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-04
Updated: 2016-09-04
Packaged: 2018-08-12 22:14:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7951162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tizarrior/pseuds/tizarrior
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Do you know the symbolism of butterflies? They represent the souls of the living and the dead."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Psychedelic Butterfly

"I'll play with you. Come here, Cleaver girl."

The slender, smaller young girl spoke with eyes adjacent to fear and brim with hope she thought had slipped through her fingers yet once more. Rena's nata swung in delirium towards Rika's direction, but her blocking position would not budge. 

_Surely this time... Keiichi would..._

Rena's yell pierced through the quiet that had overtaken the tense school grounds, pupils dilated in a fear and confusion that only Rika could read through at and understand at this moment. 

_He would find a way out of this maze._

The sharp-edged tool collided sharply with the wall next to her, managing to dodge the unrestrained assault of what had been her close friend until just a few days ago. Quickly, her feet had picked up to make a hasty getaway towards the small case that the C-120 lay nestled inside of, but a tight grip was felt on her collar. A grip that could have been rivaled in strength only to the one Sonozaki Shion had given her in the timeline where she succumbed to her love-driven madness. 

"Rika-chan, where are you running? Ahahahaha. Rena's really angry now, you know?"

A voice bellowed above her trembling form, so void of outer emotion and only oozing with the same misery and despair she had to watch her friends go through so many times before. The C-120 had been snatched away fully into the clutches of this girl who could not even begin to comprehend the power and consequences of its contents. Rena's brow had only furrowed at the syringe inside and then turned into a devilish scowl. 

"Hah, were you perhaps planning to drug me? Rika-chan, that's not very friendly of you. Weren't we supposed to be friends? Friends don't try to drug eachother like that, right?"

Another yell pierced itself out of Rena's throat, in an instant sinking the needle into Rika's arm, plunger sliding back the barrel and skillfully being pushed out of the long-haired girl's skin. It was almost like shots had been a habitual practice for her.

_Interesting. This world is almost over, but Keiichi taught me many new things in it. If I could have just stuck around for a little bit longer, but alas. So long... Rena Ryuuguu. Let us meet in the next world._

Those were the only other words Rika could cough out, before Rena had gone in a mad frenzy after Keiichi with a look only muddled in confusion at the sudden transformation to such a mature, unchildlike voice and disposition of someone she thought would have practically been like her own little sister. Rika shriveled sickly against the cold floorboards, visage giving her a sense of distant recollection. A painful sensation spread throughout her body, similar to the one with Shion when she had forcibly injected the C-120 into her, a paralyzing feeling arduous of breathing and fluid thought process. Panic began to seep into the crevices of her consciousness, a shaky hand reaching out to collect the syringe back into its case.  Her shrunken irises now resembled Rena's deranged ones, as she had grabbed the base of her mop she had used to fend off Rena for what she could, supporting herself back up and walking towards the exit in uneven steps. Alarms could already be heard sounding off from outside the school grounds and the noisy chatter of parents who had just been stricken with the fear of god. 

 _Keiichi! He made it!_  

Rika arrived back at the classroom, where the younger kids had already began to be evacuated by the police. Mion was unrestrained, the streak of blood that ran down her forehead now disinfected and gauzed by Irie. She met up with her and Satoko in a desperate chatter soaked with dread and concern, although they had been confined by the mere barricade tape that was to separate them from their two friends who were now on the school rooftop facing each other earnestly.  
A gentle gust of wind blew her dark blue locks, fist clenched in what she could feel was one of the tensest moments in her prolonged life. From her cheek slipped a tear that she could not bother with wiping off in full attentiveness on what was to unfold. 

Why?  Why is it she intended so much to see this through the end, even though the fate of this world was at a dead end? What a truly terrifying thing this Keiichi Maebara was. With all the hope he could inspire, Rika had been sure from the moment of meeting Ichirou at that field that the boy would be their key.

The cleaver had bested the bat, only waiting to be swung down for his mortal demise. Yet, it had only happened that Rena broke in tears in a comprehension of all the horrible things she had incurred her friends to. That realization wouldn't have been possible without Keiichi as the catalyst.  He helped move everyone forward and break them from a delusion of continuous suffering and a budding persecution complex that could only end in a bloodied tragedy. 

Even with the one favorable outcome of this sad world, it would have been unfortunate to say that it would remain fixed otherwise. The Great Hinamizawa Disaster would still be executed and Rika would once more be murdered for its fluid implementation. Fate was a persistent thing; Rika could truly understand why the saying "set in stone" existed in essence since battling so long against it. Crushing a stone was an impossible human feat, should it be done with her alone. Even combining the strength from a group of people, it would remain impossible without the presence of a miracle.  Their miracle was already a premonition in proximity, the only element of absence were the people. Although they should have been something equally in proximity to her, if not more, yet Rika struggled reaching out to them. 

Cicadas chirped loudly at high noon, buzzing their wings against the bark of trees in search of a cool breeze among this late June heat.  Rena's descent was over and starting a new chapter in their arduous battle, Rika and Hanyuu co-existed now in a world that was of particular interest. 

Rainbow scales on butterflies reflected in a flutter across gentle waves against a river stream and the old miko breathed in the fresh air of Hinamizawa. They were beside the bridge overseeing the river and leading into the deep forest, a ways off from the Furude Shrine. Rika had gripped the guardrails in a tight grasp, wind from the other direction blowing her long hair and ends of her pale green sundress against the current. The village had been overtaken with a thick swarm of these butterflies, spreading their colors across the expanse of thatched roof houses, rice paddies, and streams running through them like aquamarine veins.

It was like a rainbow mist could almost spread over with their numbers, the only escape the god and shrine maiden could find from them having been here. Like a kaleidoscope they both mesmerized and confused one’s visage, their light even managing to paint the sky.

“What is this? Why is Hinamizawa covered in butterflies?” Rika asked in baffled amazement, arms now stretching against the rails in not too much astonishment. The very concept of being an existence subject to continuous resurrection to travel completely altered versions of her universe, every time after being gruesomely killed, had already drained her spirits significantly low enough.

“Do you know the symbolism of butterflies? They represent the souls of the living and the dead. Perhaps we’ve entered an interlude.”

“An interlude? What in the world are you talking about, Hanyuu?” Rika shouted in a vexed tone at the placid god. “Where is everyone?! Keiichi, Rena, Mion, Satoko?! Even Takano and Tomitake...!”

“Calm down, Rika. They’re all here.” Hanyuu spoke unperturbed and with gentle eloquence, as a butterfly stray of the swarm had flown over and landed onto the tip of her index finger. How the butterfly could sense Hanyuu’s translucent presence had been beyond Rika even more.

“This is a world divided between space and time in a unique way. It acts as a mediator between the multitude of discarded worlds. Well, perhaps in actuality it’s more simple than that.” The old god continued in a low chuckle, which only received a furrowed brow from the other. Rika didn’t appreciate how in the world she could be finding this amusing.

“Therefore, this is a discarded tile in itself. How is it possible one got mixed into the current puzzle pieces?”

Normally, there wouldn't have been any way or point for Rika to re-enter a world that she had been to previously, much less one that didn't even seem to have ever been a part of the original fragments she had been given to connect together, in the first place.

“It could be the result of a misplaced piece. I was aware of the possibility, but it had been so close to none I…hadn’t even considered it. The faulty pieces may result in an accumulation that directly leads to this world. Although I don’t consider it much past being a barren wasteland, I think this world has an important role as a spiritual abode.”

“Spiritual abode? Could it be, then…”

“Yes, this a spirit ground for all the dead of past worlds. And this is...” The small butterfly on the tip of Hanyuu’s finger shyly fluttered its pale blue wings that melted into a curious shade of scarlet and an outline of a kaleidoscope.

"Rena.."

It began to wiggle around both Rika and Hanyuu as a group of four other butterflies soon joined the happy oscillation.

“Everyone, we’re back!” Hanyuu exclaimed in an excited tone, making a skip or two to flap around with the colorful flying insects.

“Hey… hold on, you. How the hell do you not find this the least bit worrisome?” Rika shouted back at the Hanyuu who had now made a good distance away from the girl with her reinvigorated blitheness. “How do we get out of here?!”

“I don’t think there would be any way other than the usual, unfortunately.”

A bead of sweat made Rika shudder and cringe at the sudden sensation of remembering once again what she had to do during the world where Shion extracted perceived revenge on the three families, the cold fluid only stiffening her frigid expression even more. No way, there was no way she could go again under such a debasing death. Although, if “debasing” were the word then arguably all of them had technically been such.

“This world is utterly pointless.” The dark-haired girl spat out with utmost indifference as someone who had already found themselves saying that countless times through every consecutive winding time lapse. This time, though, seemed to be a particularly drawn blank. Hanyuu had expressed feelings for this world that carried knowledge of it being possibly one of the strongest enlightenments than had been met in any other universe.

“Beyond being a ‘graveyard of worlds’, this world has a crucial purpose. I implore you to see through it, Rika."

"Of course, you have no intention of sharing it with me." Rika laughed in a sardonic voice, staring at a lone butterfly rested on the railing in a bright flaxen hue. From the color and mischevious flapping of wings, she had already drawn the idea that this was the very reincarnation of her best friend. It flew in a serpentine line towards the softness of her cheek, which made them redden from the ticklish and warm feeling. Rika directed her index finger at the butterfly just as Hanyuu had earlier and it zig-zagged and rested on the tip with just an adjust gait or two of it's thin legs.

With the butterfly still on Rika's pointer, her eyes shifted back up to the expanse of the Hinamizawan sky. Birds darted the horizon with a color contrasted to the sunlight that had spread over the small village. Although in this world, due to their seemingly vast number, the butterflies looked to be tailing not too far behind. Now with afternoon steadily approaching, it would have been the usual time Rika and Satoko parted ways with the others and went on the forested path towards home. This world was devoid of all such corporeal existences of humans, such as Keiichi's rambunctious uproar at Satoko's traps or Mion's hearty laughter that would often follow alongside a frettering Rena who quickly turned to "adorable mode" once Satoko would start crying from Keiichi's dreaded forehead flick. Indeed, this world had a particular loneliness all unique to it's own. A world where everyone was already gone from the get-go, Rika didn't think such a thing could ever quite pull on her heartstrings to this extent. Perhaps because it represented even more so a road she had forced herself to walk all on her own this entire time.

Then, in this case, could this world have also been a "what if" from an outcome? Granted, no such prior worlds were strictly such creations, until Rika manipulated them into such. Although, she felt this world could have been a complete representative probability from the start. Another image created by Hanyuu to teach her a lesson? Rika had been using the strength of merely her own willpower this whole time, as Hanyuu had long chastised her of "not expecting too much". As a result, she only retreated into further loneliness and was giving up more dependence on her friends after every consecutive world.

Not looking back at Hanyuu, Rika went into a sudden sprint down the foot of the bridge and into the forested area ahead. The butterfly, in accordance, had flown away from her finger in the same abruptness and tailed behind her in the group of the other three. Hanyuu hadn't noticed Rika had taken off until then, snapping out of her playful daze that had began to resemble Rena in "adorable mode", and quickly picked herself back up mid-air to follow behind.

"W-wait, Rika! Where are you going?!" Hanyuu shouted after the other girl, their distance gradually decreasing and becoming bordered of the butterflies.

"I understand now. What you want me to know...Hanyuu, this world is another dream, isn't it? You're the one who set it up with a clear goal in mind."

Rika's sundress fluttering behind her, the old girl's sandals stopped in front of the steps that gave an ascension to the path of a shrine that's very air gave off a sanctified sensation. The very place where she had previously lived with her family and not too far off - with Satoko in a small but homely shack. Where they had suffered through the most painful, cataclysmic moments and reveled in some of the most joyous club activities alike. No matter how many worlds sprung anew into reality, revisiting the shrine always instilled into her a melancholic feeling mixed in with a sense of anxious dread. That was because, even having used what she had thought was the paramount of all her willpower and strength, her death would still be repetitively executed in this place by the Yamainu without any further preemption possible, until she could find out who was it that wanted to take her life so badly. Her lifeless body would be left as carrion and another mark of fruitless endeavor. No matter the attempts she had made at warning Tomitake and Takano of their own death, preventing her own had still remained such a hopeless modification.

 "Au au...What are we back at the shrine for?" Hanyuu had asked in a curious inflection and head tilt.

"The cycle of birth, transformation, and death. Rika Furude was born the next consecutive daughter in line, making her thought to be the reincarnation of Oyashiro. Her role become one of a contender against an obstinate future that only kept ending in her meeting an obstinately alike demise. And the venue that has been the very embodiment of this has been...here."

"That's right, isn't it? The clue from all these butterflies. Although, the message doesn't end there, of course. That for so long I had been struggling on my own, without noticing those around me, even in true loneliness they surround me. Everyone has been going through the same cycle with me, just like butterflies."

"Hm, so that is your answer, Rika."

"I'm guessing that meant that saying this world would have had the "usual" departure was just a bluff, too."

"Do you realize now the consequence of your own emotional withdrawals? Then follow the wing of affinity." Hanyuu's voice had now deepened and her lilac irises shaded to a somber, celestial scarlet.

With an unreserved grimace that could only point blasphemy to Hanyuu's hallowed aura, Rika turned away from the chastise and began to walk towards the verdant sideways of the shrine in a constricted expression.

"Of course you would only leave another riddle." She muttered out while shuffling her feet away to an elevation overlooking the village and not long enough, a deeper sense of melancholy overtook her being. Even such a subtlety from Hanyuu would quickly set in after a point.

The place they had found themselves was nowhere else but the plot of land both Rika and Satoko had found everyone else making a picnic at, in the universe of Onikakushi. A place full of such warm memories, yet incurring a sentiment that was like a prickle to the essence of life, the core of human clockwork itself. Such emotions were a complexity to express, although it was unmistakably that they were powerful enough to take a crack to the fountain of life. And only someone emphatic enough with a struggle arduous to having lived a repetitive existence for well over decades, could have perhaps understood them in the fullest intensity.

"This is...I remember this place." Her voice managed to choke out amidst these emotions, eyes darting around in bewilderment to physically soak up the surroundings in this place that were now only in subjective clutches. If they overtook any more, it wouldn't come a surprise to Rika that she would have been on the brim of tears. What was the reason Hanyuu directed her illusion here? For what reason and what parable? To get out of this world, it seemed there was no way unpestered by this puzzle in the midst of puzzles that this endless June had already been trapped in.

Hanyuu had trailed closely behind, the crimson in her gaze unwavering. Frustration had steadily been piling on looking at Rika in such a reclusive state, and in quiet lament of a cyclical helplessness, it turned into restless exasperation. Even though she had been in a pool of such weakness, witnessing Rika in a routine state of drunken stupor had given a word to the wise. In that emotional moment, Hanyuu truly understood. Rika had broken a dam from so much pent up sorrow and had stiffled "I don't want to be alone...I don't want to be alone." between blinding tears. Beyond a shadow of doubt, this was no amount of loneliness that could've made itself vivid so instantly when reflected on objectively. If it were a world where her friends were still alive and well, it was a mutual understanding that it was of more importance preserving such a condition. Although, in seeing such a situation through Rika's eyes, it became apparent to understand that there was an inherent loneliness that had only been festering inside her scab to emotions. At such moonlit nights with herself, it revealed itself in all respects, even if only to Hanyuu. Thus, the older god had decided to pass judgement on her own maiden. Of course, it was only an act stemmed out of concerned, heartfelt will. Rika had needed to see the realities of a true solo existence and one that wasn't; That their borders overlapped into the same point. Yes, humans are born alone and die alone. Although, during that interval, between an infinite sea of bodies, that is surely not the case. Hanyuu remembered sharing such words of wisdom even to her daughter long ago, that "You are never truly alone."

Shards of a paragon structure floated in a circuit drift, reflecting the bittersweet memory that had risen with this place on it's glass-like, colorful facets. This diamond resembled the form of the game pieces that they had held, like any other. Rika hadn't taken any steps of indecision, like the ones Hanyuu had been accusing her of, but went to the structure with firm faith. Her dark lavender orbs on the shard mirrored every small occurrence that had materialized that day in infallible perfection. Her fingertips touched a facet in a gentle, slow gesture while the butterflies that had been trailing behind her and Hanyuu had flown up into a wheel around her hand. This world of butterflies became dyed in a blinding white, while both the god and her maiden remained in standstill at the spontaneous sight.

  
Now the world, or rather it seemed - a completely new world - was coated back into technicolor. Like a minute dream, Rika had awoken at her desk in school where she could see Mion and Satoko chatting in a corner. With no delay, Satoko had noticed Rika awake, after having sent numerous concerned glances her way.

"Rika! You sure are a sleepyhead today, geez. I couldn't pacify Chie-sensei for much longer, you know?"

"...Satoko." Rika muttered in a low voice, but then quickly followed it up with a cheerier tone in order to not further complicate the worried expression on her friend's face. "I guess I must feel extra drowsy today from that TV show we always stay up to watch. Nipah~."

"Ahaha, Rika-chan, do you get sleepy very fast?" Mion gloated with a toothy grin and a hand casually rested on her hip.

"Mii, it doesn't help Chie-sensei can be pretty boring lecturing on about curry~." Everyone around had let out a nonchalant laugh at the comment so dissonant to Rika's usual pure and studious appearance, but in reality they knew she was actually the most snide comic in Mion's prided club.

"I'll go wash my face now, mii. Splash, splash, nano desu!" Rika waved her hands in front of her face, mimicking the image of water splashing against skin, and spun on her heels out of the classroom in a dramatic, half awake gait. At the wash basins placed outside the school, she had immediately ascertained her surroundings, lavender orbs darkening in color again.

"Hanyuu, the world of butterflies! What..happened to it? "

"You've found the key, Rika. Although, have you found it in your heart?"

"...Yes. I understand now. Such a dream, if turned into a reality, becomes an easily felt fragility. Even stuck in a sentiment that every consecutive world becomes only more insignificant, life surrounds it every time. And I...should keep fighting to preserve that life. For, this June of 1983 isn't fixed just yet!"

The sun beat down on the small Hinamizawa school, but Rika paid the heat no mind and walked back at it's entrance with a fresh smile. Her eyelids momentarily closed in warm thoughts, albeit her classmates having given her looks at the curious return.

_There is no need for me to fight my battles alone, for "You are never truly alone."_

_In this world, you must fight with your allies to live with them._

_After all, we are all the same._

_Like butterflies, the cycle of death and rebirth._


End file.
